Conviction
by Original Blue
Summary: SasuSaku. She's given so much of herself to him only to have him reject it; she's decided that the last pieces of her heart are off limits.
1. Prologue

Conviction

by Original Blue

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"You–" she hiccupped, limbs shaking. "You're not allowed to do this."

He skimmed his nose over her collarbone, one hand anchored to the wall beside her head as the other caressed her spine.

"Who says I'm not allowed to do this?" His tongue darted out to touch her pulse point. The flush in her cheeks rose as her breathing sped, feeling him pressed up against her.

"No, no, no, Sasuke no..." She bit her lip to stifle a moan as his teeth grazed her earlobe.

_I spent so long loving you and hating you and wishing you'd fall into bed next to me – there are so many things I want to say to you, to scream at you and whisper to you, but I can never find the words._

"Yes, Sakura. Yes." He hooked one wide palm beneath her thigh and pulled it up to his hipbone.

_No, no, you're not allowed. You're the one that left us, that gave this up, that made us the enemy. You don't get to have me after all this time. You don't get the choice, the one you made for us years ago. You had your chance. There are no more chances._

The tears pushing from beneath her eyelids were from sorrow and anger and the sick joy of victory hard won. She could feel him against her, every inch of the body she'd seen walking away. The difference was that this time she was the one resisting; he advanced like a never ending torrent of fire.

_Damn you. I wanted you and hated myself because of you, and now I feel sick at your touch because I know that I like it. Damn you._

His hands snuck beneath the white coat she wore at the hospital, brushing her navel and making her knees buckle slightly. She felt like she couldn't breathe. A thousand memories traveled through her mind: his black mussed hair as he apologized that cold night; the ghostly pallor of his skin when he finally returned to the village; the indecipherable looks he traded with Naruto whenever she got a boyfriend, ensuring that whoever asked her out would have a late night visit from two masked ANBU; the glances he cast in her direction as he heard her heart speed up during a medical examination; the sakura flowers that inexplicably showed up at her doorstep on her birthday, even when she sat up all night to catch him.

Tapered fingers, padded with training calluses, smoothed over her ribs and made her shudder. "Stop it, Sasuke, please stop it now," she begged. She was pleading now, something she'd never have considered doing.

He paused, breath still tickling hers as he planted a light kiss on her swollen lips. "Why should I? You can't stay innocent forever. You know what I feel for you, what you feel for me."

But Sakura could only sigh, tears finally deigning to stream down her face. She'd spent so long building up the wall between the girl she used to be and the woman she'd become; she knew if she broke it now, it was irreversible. She would once again become vulnerable, once again be lonely, once again be left with nothing to hold on to. The glass box that protected her heart was cracking, and if she handed him the key, he would walk away, leaving her with nothing but shards to cut herself on.

Trembling with the loud sobs that wracked her body, she pressed a hand to his chest and pushed. She couldn't even look at him. She unlocked the door to the hospital supply closet and stepped into fluorescent lighting, knowing that her heart could only take so much. Her love had survived his abandonment once, and she wasn't eager to test if it could survive another.


	2. Chapter 1

Conviction: Chapter 1

by Rachel Poulson

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_In the dream, his eyes roved over her body like hands. She whimpered under his touch, unable and unwilling to move. Frantically she searched for a familiar face; anyone, anything besides the onyx eyes that were boring into hers. But when she felt his hand stroke the small of her back, a moan escaped her lips, and he attacked with new fervor._

_His body was like a coffin: smothering her but cradling her form at the same time. This time there was no escape._

_He grew bolder, planting kisses on the insides of her wrists, her elbow, the crook of her neck. Her limbs went slack, feeling everything from a distance, the distance she'd carefully cultivated in her heart._

_She stopped fighting his hold._

_Sasuke sensed her pliancy immediately and stepped away. She fell to the cold floor, not bothering to close her eyes. She was completely at his mercy._

_Unsatisfied, craving the fire that burned within her, he still did not relent. Dark eyes flashed to red and she saw them swirling, spinning, spiraling, drawing her in, tempting her the way he always did._

_His hand covering her eyes was gentle, as was the chaste kiss he pressed to her lips; a familiar mouth, brushing her in the darkness which was suddenly filling her thoughts._

_Maybe she could give in, just this once._

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Sakura woke up screaming.

"Sakura! Wake up, Sakura! It's just a dream!" Hands pulled her forward as she fought the blankets that trapped her limbs.

Then she opened her eyes and the nightmare was real. She shrank away from Sasuke, drawing the covers to her shoulders and curling into the fetal position. "Go away!" It was still dark outside. She screwed her eyes shut, hoping this dream would fade like the last.

"What's taking so long, teme? Shouldn't she be awake by now?"

_Naruto?_

Blearily Sakura cracked her eyelids and saw the jinchuuriki smiling at her from the foot of the bed. "Morning, Sakura! We have a mission from baa–chan, so grab some clothes."

She groaned and glanced at her alarm clock. The dial read 2:15AM. She shut her eyes again and cursed wearily at her teammates before finding the strength to get out of bed and get ready. She pushed the boys out of her room and silently regretted giving them keys to her apartment.

At 2:20 she was ready. They made their way to the Hokage Tower, picked up the mission scroll from Tsunade (who was almost too drunk to recognize them), and headed out towards the village gate.

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The sun was setting behind the trees and smoke drifted from the campfire set up by Sasuke. They had a week to escort a loudmouth weapons merchant to Suna and report to Gaara with highly classified correspondence.

Sakura sat by the fire, cooking the ninjas' dinner. She had finally stopped shaking as they left the vicinity of Konoha. Naruto lay on his back and stared up at the sky, which was slowly turning from baby blue to orange. Sasuke was resting in a tree a few feet from the camp; he seemed to be asleep.

Naruto was picking blades of grass and throwing them into the air when a slow grin spread over his face. "Hey, Sakura, want to go take a bath in the river? If you want company I'd be happy to join you–" She reached over and flicked his kneecap. "Ow!"

The pink–haired nin smiled. "You and Hinata are getting up the courage to talk to Hiashi and you're hitting on _me_?" Naruto gulped in the face of her terrifying smirk. "I'm sure Hinata would _love_ to know about this–"

"Igottagotakeabathbebacklater–!" He shot off into the trees. Sakura snickered and returned to tending the fire.

_It's so hot,_ she marveled, passing her fingers through the edges of the flame, _but we crave warmth. Even when it burns us, we still want it._ She glanced at Sasuke through pale peach lashes.

He had his arms crossed over his chest and was breathing slowly and deeply. Her trained ears twitched. Slightly too deeply.

He was awake.

As though he sensed her scrutiny (which he probably did), he turned away until the familiar red and white crest of the Uchihas faced her. She lay back into the grass, sighing. He hadn't said a single word to her since the abrupt wakeup nearly seventeen hours ago, and the silence was beginning to grate on her nerves, just as it had during her genin days.

That was the reason she used to talk so much; she would say anything at all to fill the awkward pauses when her teammates were fighting, or scared, or sad. Sakura was greatly tempted to speak, to make it feel like old times, but she clenched her jaw instead. He'd made it perfectly clear that he didn't appreciate the familiarity and she had no desire to be shut out again.


	3. Chapter 2

Conviction: Chapter 2

by Rachel Poulson

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Sunagakure was like hell to Sakura. The stifling heat made even the thinnest layers cling to her skin. The nights were torturous as well; nightfall only brought humidity, which turned the air to soup. Returning to the Land of Fire, where shade and running water were plentiful, was a temptation not readily ignored, but Team 7 did its best. As Gaara composed replies to Tsunade's letters, Naruto and Sasuke went to the Sand Village's training grounds to loosen up, and Sakura chained herself to the hospital ward.

At last their mission ended and they began the journey home, lengthy correspondence in tow.

Sakura flitted through the trees outside Konohagakure, happy now that she'd never applied for a transfer to Suna; if that was what late summer did to the desert, she'd never survive the initial heat waves that signaled the end of spring. Her teammates were their usual selves: Sasuke was tall, dark and sulky; Naruto was buzzing at the thought of seeing his precious "Hina–chan" soon.

She smiled and kept her thoughts on going home.

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Training didn't wait for nice weather. A week after they returned, the desert decided to follow them, and they were left running laps in blistering heat.

As they ran, feet barely deigning to touch the branches, Sakura tried in vain to ignore the itching burn that crept over her shoulders and down her back.

"Hey, is something wrong?"

She scowled at Naruto's concern; he just _had_ to be perceptive when she needed it the least. "I'm just a little sunburned, Naruto. Calm down." A passing branch brushed her bare arm, and she grimaced.

"Sakura, why don't you just heal it? We could go see Baa–chan if you're too drained–" He stopped because Sakura was shaking her head.

"Remember when I sliced up my back on those chakra–coated wires a few weeks ago? Tsunade healed it, but it put a lot of foreign chakra in my system. The skin there is still really sensitive; the body can only take so many healings in a short amount of time before the strain shows. Why do you think older shinobi have scars on their fingers from summoning? Because if you reinjure yourself and then re–heal yourself in the same place too many times it can reduce the effect of the healing."

Naruto's eyebrows were scrunched up, "So... when I'm old I'll have screwed up thumbs from summoning?"

Sakura sighed. "Yes, Naruto."

He started to look worried. "Should I warn Hina–chan not to sign a summoning contract? She might be worried about her skin because the Hyuuga elders are all crazy about perfection–"

If Sakura didn't do something he'd be sure to ask Hinata how her thumbs were, which would start an unpleasant line of questioning. She rolled her eyes at his transparent concern and cut him off. "Naruto, I'm sure it'll be fine. She's taken medic classes before, and that's one of the most basic lessons."

She sped ahead of the boys, suddenly weary of Naruto's insatiable bumbling curiosity.

Behind her, two onyx colored eyes watched the play of light over the faint scars on her reddening skin.

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Sasuke woke before dawn and got out of bed. Usually he got up, ate a tomato or two, and headed down to the training field.

But usually there wasn't someone else opening his front door.

He crept through his own house, glancing into the living room. An unexpected color met his eyes.

Pink.

He blinked, wondering if it was time for an eye exam.

But he was never wrong, and Haruno Sakura was setting down a medic bag and flopping onto his couch. Too exhausted to sense his presence, she arched her spine like a cat. He watched, entranced as she popped her vertebrae and twisted her hands to further stretch the muscles. Her bare feet pointed, pressing against the pillows at one end of the couch. He could see the tendons pulled taught in her calves, her eyes flickering, her breath quick–

He resisted the urge to hit himself. Since her rejection at the hospital he had tried to avoid being alone with her. And now she was voluntarily in his home while it was still dark outside, practically begging him to– no. She'd probably been at work for hours and needed a place to sleep, that was all.

Silently he walked into his living room, eyes fractionally narrower than usual. Tired as she was, Sakura still heard him come in. She turned heavily lidded eyes in his direction.

"Oh, gomen, Sasuke. I thought you would still be asleep."

"Hn."_ I was._

"Do you want me to leave?"

"Hn." _It doesn't matter to me._

"Hai. I'll just sleep then." She turned over, punching one of his cushions into a more comfortable shape.

"Ah, Sakura..."

She raised a pale eyebrow at him in question.

"You can sleep in my room if you want. I'm going out." _I don't think I can be in the same house as you while you sleep..._

Green eyes regarded him for a moment, sizing him up. Her aching body seemed to make the decision for her, and she sat up. "Arigato. I'll be gone by the time you get back."

"Hn." _Stay as long as you like._

She stood, carrying her bag in one hand, and brushed past him. For a split second, he considered following her, saying that he'd chosen to go back to sleep. But as he watched her pale feet ghost over his floors, he decided that he would have to settle for the memory of her walking into his bedroom willingly. He'd tried to push her once and seen the consequences; she'd barely looked at him for a month.

So he turned away, missing the glance Sakura sent towards him. He locked the door behind him, something he usually never bothered to do. Now he had something precious to protect. Asking him for a place to stay might be a slight thawing in her usual disgust for him; he wasn't about to destroy that small piece of good will by leaving her unprotected.


	4. Chapter 3

Conviction: Chapter 3

by Rachel Poulson

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When she woke up, he was gone.

_It's not like I expected him to be here,_ she thought sourly. _After all, Uchiha–san always has our favorite jinchuuriki to beat up._

She made a sandwich and grabbed a water bottle from Sasuke's fridge before heading back to the hospital for the night shift.

...

"Sakura–san?"

She looked up from the clipboard and smiled at the doctor. "Hello, Tsuka–sama. Do you need something?"

The tall man looked at her nervously. "I was wondering if... you'd like to have dinner with me after our shift?"

"Isn't it a little early in the morning for dinner?" she teased.

"Well, I mean, it could be breakfast–"

"Dinner's fine," she said. "Pick me up here at two?"

Tsuka nodded jerkily and gave a hasty smile before returning to his section of the hospital.

...

Dinner was nice, Sakura had to admit. Tsuka was pleasant company when he stopped being nervous, and he didn't drink anything stronger than beer. She was laughing in a bar in downtown Konoha when she felt a familiar chakra signature walk through the doors.

She twisted around on her stool, and scarlet eyes met hers from a few feet away.

"Sasuke? What the hell are you doing here?"

He was dressed in ANBU garb, kusanagi thrust through his belt and mask dangling from a red string. The dark haired man looked affronted at her question. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I took the night shift. Why are you in mission clothes?" _There's still blood on your arm–guards..._

"I just got back. Who's this idiot?"

She raised an eyebrow at his unusual rudeness. "This is Tsuka–san, a colleague from the hospital. I'm on a date."

She'd never seen his eyes widen so far before. "With _him_?"

She sneered. "It's called a social life, Sasuke; you should get one, they're fun."

"But he's a chunin!" The ANBU captain clenched his fists.

_How dare he? _"So am I! It's not a crime, you know?"

"Did he ask Naruto first?"

Sakura still, her eyes narrowing. "Do I need approval to go out with people?"

"Well... yes."

Tsuka stood up between them, aware that a lot of inaudible talking was going on. "I can see Sakura doesn't really feel like talking to you right now. We're having dinner, so maybe you should find her later." His words were brave, but to Sakura he just sounded nervous; no medic chunin wanted to go up against a fully armed ANBU captain without some serious reinforcements.

_It's time to remind Sasuke–kuuun exactly who he's dealing with._

Sasuke's gaze cut to him, a smirk on his lips. "You couldn't be good enough for Sakura if you tried–"

–at which point the personal universe of Uchiha Sasuke switched off with some help from Sakura's fist.

She blew on her knuckles and sighed. "Sorry, Tsuka, but I have to take this home." None too gently she picked up the unconscious Uchiha and effortlessly threw him over her shoulder with one hand.

Tsuka gulped. He watched her walk through the suddenly silent throng of people, pink hair swaying between her shoulder blades.

The man asleep on her back was going to have some serious explaining to do.

...

Dawn began over Konoha.

"Oi, Sasuke! Hina–chan wants to know if you–"

Naruto stopped short and stared.

The last Uchiha was hanging upside down by one ankle, hands bound together behind his back, from one of the trees in his family's compound. And he was apparently unconscious.

The Evil Naruto that was usually suppressed came to life, chuckling with glee. For a moment the jinchuuriki considered his options and decided that a little revenge was in order.

_He hasn't done anything really bad lately though,_ argued his inner Yondaime.

_It's preemptive,_ said the mental Jiraiya.

Jiraiya won.

Ten minutes later Naruto walked back out of the Uchiha grounds, whistling, with three magic markers stuck in his pocket.

Sasuke, covered in profane doodles and messages, woke up with a roaring headache and groaned.

_Hell hath no fury like Sakura scorned._


	5. Chapter 4

Conviction: Chapter 4

by Rachel Poulson

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"Haruno–sama! There are more over here–"

"–doctor! Someone, get the doctor–"

"–yes, the one with the pink hair–"

"–not a child anymore–"

"–told you to pull the plug. A blind girl is of no use to the Sijuka Clan–"

"–she's you're daughter!"

Sakura turned on the water as hot as it would run, staring at pale blue chunks of tile without truly seeing them. Mutely, she traced patterns onto the cool stone.

_I _never_ want to go back to the hospital._

With a start she realized she was shivering, even in the burning spray. She turned it off mechanically, stepping out of the shower and shutting the door behind her.

There were four towels under the sink. One orange, one blue, one purple, one pink.

Her hand went automatically to the pink one, but as it neared, her fingers shied towards the navy blue. She unfolded it and wrapped it around her body, feeling guilty that she was using Sasuke's towel. But right now she needed something comforting.

Eyes half–closed to keep away the walking nightmares, Sakura walked into Naruto's room and curled up on his bed.

...

Meanwhile, back at Sakura's vacant house, Sasuke was fuming. He was very good at it; he managed to sulk even when there was no one around to ignore.

How dare she? He was just trying to look out for her, protect her from weak idiots like _Tsuka–san,_ and she decided that a good punching was in order? Then he woke up hours later, tied _upside down to a tree_ with insane scribbles all over him?

_What the hell?_

Although the writing did look more like Naruto's than Sakura's, the principal was the same. She'd left him trussed in a tree. On the Uchiha grounds. Shaming the ghosts of his family. He could just see Itachi laughing his ass off with Mikoto...

Sasuke gritted his teeth and settled into one of the plush chairs in Sakura's living room.

_There will _never_ be a repeat of this event._

After half an hour of uncomfortable waiting alternating with pacing back and forth, the last of the Uchiha brood decided to search out his luckless teammate. As he left, a slip of paper on the countertop caught his eye.

–

_To Do:_

_1. Go grocery shopping._

_2. Talk to Ino about our mission._

_3. Hospital._

_4. Give Hinata the ramen cookbook._

_5. Pick up a loaf of rye bread and some shampoo from the market._

–

It was checked off up to three.

A sick feeling of dread began to steal over Sasuke as he slipped out of her house. There was nothing written next to four or five, but the list was dated yesterday. She'd never returned from the hospital.

...

"Sasuke–teme! What's up?"

Naruto bounded over to the brooding Uchiha, grocery bag in one hand.

"Nothing." _I still can't find Sakura anywhere._

"Are you sure? You look more emo than usual."

"Shut up, dobe." _You'd feel the same way if Hinata was missing._

"Yeah, you're right; it's probably just PMS." He grinned at the infuriated Sasuke and started to walk towards his apartment. "Come by later – Sakura and I are going out for Ramen at around six."

Sasuke went very still. "You've seen Sakura?"

"Yeah, sure. She's asleep at my house."

A vein started twitching in Sasuke's temple. "She's at _your_ house?" _My house is closer to the hospital – she could have come over._

"Of course. She came over after work to give Hinata a present. I'm not really sure what it was, but it made Hinata blush and hug her _really_ tightly." The wide smile on his face reflected his obvious pride in Hinata.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his own stupidity. "I'm going with you."

Naruto looked surprised. "But you hate going to ramen with us–"

"I said I'm going."

...

Someone entered the room she was sleeping in, and her nin senses kicked in. She let her exhausted eyes shutter open for a moment. The low fluorescent lighting cast huge shadows on the cream–colored walls.

The memories that she'd been keeping out – of people dying under her hands, of fathers who didn't care about their little girls, of healing the victims of torture – flooded back in, making her moan.

She curled into the fetal position, shutting her eyes, until she felt fingers slide into hers.

Between her lashes, green eyes glimpsed dark hair and a matching gaze.

_Maybe I could pretend that it's like back then...I would have loved it if Sasuke held my hand...like he was all mine..._

Sakura smiled slightly.

Sasuke watched her slide back into unconsciousness.

...

He'd been very, _very_ angry. It had been years since he'd felt that towering rage, that willingness to smash the furniture and make the walls bleed. He'd intended to find her and shake her, yell at her, tell her everything he was feeling and why.

Then he'd walked into the room, and seen her sleeping like the dead, hair flopped over the pillow and her face.

She was even snoring slightly.

So instead of getting angry all over again, Sasuke quietly closed the door, sat down, and watched over the thing that mattered most to him.

...

Sakura woke slightly as the evening started. She turned over in Naruto's comfortable bed and reached a hand out to look at the alarm clock.

_Shit. I'm too late to do the evening shift..._

She drew back her hand from the digital face, only to stop in amazement; someone was holding her wrist.

She glanced up into Sasuke's face, and then back at the spot where her palm met her forearm.

Someone had drawn a blue daisy chain all the way around it.

She tried to tug her hand away, but he held fast, his eyes boring into hers.

"Sasuke, please let go." Even as she said it, her breath sped.

"No." Jade clashed with onyx.

She bit the inside of her cheek. "I said let go."

"And I said no."


	6. Chapter 5

Conviction: Chapter 5

by Rachel Poulson

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There was no meaning in him being here, she decided. He'd made his choice long ago. Now it was all just epilogue, a continuation, because everyone knows _something_ has to happen after the main character turns good again.

The indigo daisies around her wrist...

She glanced up at him and glanced away, guilty but amused. There were faint colorful lines over every inch of bare skin, faded as though someone had tried to scrub them all away. Her mouth twitched. _Naruto, you idiot._

His grip moved slightly on her wrist, bringing her back to the present; with her sense of time came her anger.

"So what, _now_ you decide you won't leave?" The bitter twist to her mouth spoke the volumes behind her words.

His steady gaze was betrayed by the miniscule tightening of muscles in his fingers. "Is that a problem?"

_Trust him to answer a question with a question, _Sakura thought sourly. "That's not fair."

"I am aware."

She sighed, sitting up and finally managing to get her hand free of Sasuke's grasp. "You're going to have to work hard to get back that trust," she warned. "The three of us can't keep going on like this. Some days we're friends, and others we're at each others' throats. It's really not normal, and I can't keep doing this."

"Hn." _I know. I'll try._

That made her smile widely. If Sasuke was back to monosyllabic answers, the world was spinning correctly once more.

"I don't suppose I could drag a sorry out of you?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"No, I guess that's too much to ask for." She swung her legs over the side of the bed and started stretching. "Come on, we'll be late for dinner."

He followed her out the door and down the hall.

...

"–and then Hina–chan told him to go fu–"

"Naruto!" A small but surprisingly strong hand collided with the back of his head.

The blonde jinchuuriki looked plaintively up at her. "But Sakura I'm just–!"

"Don't you even try to tell me that Hinata said that to her father! She has guts, not a deathwish." Sakura sighed over her drink and ordered another bowl of ramen.

On her other side, Sasuke tried to focus on the pink haired girl so he wouldn't be tempted to kill his best friend. But the other members of his team could tell it wasn't the morbid aura that he usually wore. In fact, on another person it might have been called content.

"Hey, Sasuke–teme, are you gonna finish your ramen?"

The Uchiha heir looked up at his best friend and said, "Hn."

He shoved the bowl down the counter, much to the surprise of both his teammates. Sasuke _never _shared. They'd often speculated that he'd missed that essential stage of development.

But Naruto happily dug in, and Sakura was left to stare at the third member of Team Seven.

He caught her look. "I'm not about to waste food," Sasuke defended.

She just smiled in that heartbreaking way. "I know. You just care about him." Her hand brushed his shoulder as she turned back to her meal.

Distracted by this sudden familiar contact, Sasuke tried to breathe in from his water glass. He choked, slopping water over his shirt, and Naruto began to laugh.

"Jeeze, Sakura! I knew you had him whipped, but have some mercy!" His chuckles drew stares from passerby until Sakura flicked his ear.

"Shut up, Naruto!" She handed Sasuke a napkin as the dark haired boy sent glares in his best friend's direction. Sakura smiled as her first love tried to gather the remains of his dignity.

"Teme, your shirt's soaked. Don't bother." Naruto grinned at him infuriatingly. "Oh, and by the way, you look like a cat in the rain."

And it was true. Sasuke did look like a big black cat caught in a cold shower, fur bristling as he ran for shelter. Now it was Sakura's turn to start laughing, but Sasuke didn't bother to glare at her. He didn't mind her laughter.

He stood up, pulled off his sopping shirt, balled it up and threw it straight at Naruto's head.

"Oi! Lucky shot! I'll get you back, you teme!"

Sasuke smirked. "Just try it, dobe." He reached out a hand and put some money on the counter. Then he pulled the dark blue shirt away from his friend and walked away, shirtless, but utterly confident.

Sakura watched him go, still smiling softly. _Okay. We'll try._

...

As Sakura walked home from her hospital shift, people were just starting to light the lamps on either side of the street. She loved the sky when it was like this, grey on the edges and a beautiful blue in the center, like it couldn't decide between day and night.

_You and me,_ she said, keeping her eyes on the clouds. _We're sandwiched between sunshine and darkness._

She spotted a familiar figure walking down the street. No, not walking exactly...

Sakura blinked. Was Sasuke _limping?_

She caught up with him just as he reached the gate of the Uchiha district. "Sasuke!"

His face as he turned was enough. She could see the sweat and blood that streaked it, the remains of a harsh mission. As his eyes fell on her she could see something pass through his eyes – relief? – before his features turned impassive once more.

"Sasuke, where are you injured...?" As she spoke she was already checking him over, pressing him lightly against the stone wall so he could rest some of his weight on it rather than his obviously injured leg.

He stared at her at as she ran her hands, glowing with chakra, over his clothes, constantly on the lookout for internal bleeding. The wonderful cool light flowing through her body closed miniscule cuts on his face and hands. Then she ran her fingers through his hair, searching lightly for any swelling that could indicate a concussion or more severe head injury.

Finally she sighed in relief and put one arm over his shoulder, helping him through the gate, though he struggled indignantly every moment.

As she took his keys out of his pocket and led him inside, his gaze was focused on her face. He'd never been a neat-freak, but his room was as tidy as usual. Or maybe not tidy, but organized. As if she could hide something and he would know exactly where it was.

Finally, while wrapping gauze around the broken fingers of his right hand, she looked up at him. "What's wrong, Sasuke? Does something still hurt?" She sat him down on the bed so she could finish her work in peace.

"No."

"Is it psychological? Was it torture or something?"

He blinked. "You care?"

Lips parted in surprise, Sakura answered, "Of course!" She grinned foolishly. "Of course I do, baka!"

He sighed, eyes flickering as he finally fell asleep.

She stayed there, running her fingers over his, mesmerized by the width of his palm and the callus on his thumb from summoning jutsus. Her eyes trained on his face, where sleep smoothed the stress lines from his brow. She resisted the urge to brush the dark hair from his eyes as she finally admitted it to herself.

_Okay... so maybe I still love him a teensy tiny bit._


	7. Chapter 6

Conviction: Chapter 6

by Rachel Poulson

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_He woke up dizzy. How was that possible? He'd never felt dizzy before when awake, so how did he know that his tilting, sickening feeling was dizziness?_

_Sasuke turned over in bed, feeling ready to throw up, and realized he wasn't at home. _I'm in the hospital,_ he thought vaguely. He held up his arm. There was a needle taped into the vein at his wrist. He let the limb drop. _

Why am I here?_ he wondered. _Is Sakura okay?

Stop being an idiot,_ he told himself sternly. _If I'm in the hospital, that means Sakura's fine because she brought me here from my house.

"_Sasuke! You're awake!" Pink hair and bright green eyes filled his vision. "I'm going to put some pain medication in the IV, so stay quiet for a little while, okay?"_

_He wanted to move, but settled for making a thumbs-up with his free hand._

_Sakura injected the medicine into a tube connected to the IV bag, and several minutes later Sasuke's world started blinking funny colors._

...

Sakura was scared for him. Seeing your patient slip in and out of consciousness unaided by modern medicine is never a good sign, but when Sasuke started muttering about eating ramen, she called Shizune for a stretcher.

_I got out most of the poison, which that baka neglected to say anything about, but I'm pretty sure he still needs a dose of the antidote, just to make it easier on his body, which is beat up enough as it is. The vicodin should be setting in, so he won't be in pain anymore, and I healed the rest of the steel wire cuts, so his time of release should speed up..._

She talked to him as she filled out the report and wrote a prescription for the on-call nurse, recalling instances of Naruto's stupidity in an attempt to elicit a snort.

For a long time he was very quiet.

Then reached out and took her hand.

"Sasuke?"

He smiled widely, which was rather alarming on Sasuke's normally impassive face.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?"

"I just wanted to say I regretted something."

He could still make her stumble over her words, even doped up. "W-what is it?"

"Well I wish I had told you I wanted to be friends sooner, because now I get to hold your hand."

"Sasuke, we were always friends."

"Except when you made me dump water all over myself. And said I looked like a wet cat."

"Okay, now I know you're on drugs. Besides, Naruto's the one that said the cat thing." She checked the IV drip connected to his arm. _Vicodin does strange things to people..._

She made him lean forward so she could put a pillow behind his head. "Okay, Sasuke, it's time to go to sleep..." She froze as he reached his arms up and pulled her down into a hug.

"I looooove you, Sakura," he said, his voice muffled by her chest. "Love you, love you, looooove you!"

Then his limbs went slack. "Sasuke? Sasuke!" She checked his pulse and breathing before realizing he'd fallen asleep.

She collapsed into the visitor's chair and laughed until she couldn't breathe. _I will never let him forget this._

...

This time Sasuke awoke completely.

_I'm in the hospital,_ was his first thought.

His second thought was, _I'm not wearing pants._

"Sasuke?"

There she was, standing in the doorway to his hospital room, dressed in that doctor's coat, looking sexy as_ hell _- and he wasn't wearing pants. Sasuke began, for the first time in his life, to feel self-conscious.

"Good, you're awake. Why didn't you say anything about poison?"

"Poison?" _I was poisoned?_

"Yes poison! The pint of orange colored stuff I pulled out of your body twenty-four hours ago! The kind that kills you if exposed to your internal organs!"

His eyes narrowed. "I was not poisoned by blades."

"Do you think you inhaled it?" Sakura pursed her lips. "I could have gotten a little warning, you know."

"Hn." _I don't remember breathing anything in..._

"Well, you're staying here for two days. In that time we'll finish healing you and get your system to recover from the shock of the toxin. Are you on any medications normally?"

He blinked slowly. "Sakura, _you_ are my doctor."

She flushed. "Right, so no medications..." she went down a list and checked the necessary boxes.

"Two days." And of course, he never directly asked anything, so he had to _imply_ that she was doing something wrong.

"Yes Sasuke, two days. That's the least amount of time it will take for your body to recover."

"A week."

"Why would you want to stay here for a week? At the most, five days will be–"

"I was not poisoned on my mission."

Sakura's heart dropped. "Y-you weren't? Then how–"

"You gave me something to drink in my apartment."

"Y-yes, some juice from the fridge–"

"Did you drink any?"

"No, I had a glass of water. Sasuke, what–"

"There is no juice in my fridge."

...

Sure enough, when Sakura trekked back to the Uchiha compound, there was only a pitcher of water, sliced cheese, and sixteen fresh tomatoes, each of which she tested for contamination.

"I swear there was juice," she said aloud, intensely aware that she was an intruder in a possibly haunted set of clan buildings. "I swear it on my parents' grave."

There was no sign of a break-in, but only a high-class ninja could get their hands on that poison, and there would be no trace of their presence. She gave up on the search after two hours and headed home, where she promptly fell into bed next to a snoring Naruto.

...

She handed Sasuke his lunch tray a day later. "There was nothing there, but I didn't really expect there to be. You're sure you were poisoned here?"

"Hn." _It could have been you._

"Well I guess it's lucky that you were home so early, or I might have gotten some of the juice, or whatever it was. I was planning to sleep at your house anyways, since it's nearer to the hospital."

The shoe dropped for Sasuke. "You were _what?_"

"Going to sleep? You know? The roughly half of our lives where we're unconscious?"

"Did you tell anyone where you were going after work?"

"Just some of the lab assistants–" she shut her mouth abruptly as the shoe _finally_ dropped for Sakura.

"Do they have access to the materials needed for such a poison?" Sasuke said quietly, not looking at her.

She nodded; there was no point trying to hide it. "They run errands for the lab technicians and scientists, so they have pretty much complete access."

Now the Uchiha looked up, and Sakura could see his eyes were spinning into the Mangekyo Sharingan. "Then we have some trainees to interrogate."


	8. Chapter 7

Conviction: Chapter 7

by Rachel Poulson

––––––––––

"No," Sakura said firmly. "Absolutely not."

He gaped inwardly. "You're saying no to _me_?"

"You're my patient. Who recently suffered a severe poisoning, I might add. You will stay in bed, and I will find Naruto. _We_ will talk to the lab assistants. Do you understand me?"

"This is completely illogical!" He fumed, balling his hands into fists and wishing he could get his hands on a pair of pants. "I have the highest genjutsu talents of Team 7, and they did break into _my_ house."

"And tried to poison _me_. You may have the sharingan, but were you trained in torture?" Her own fingers were twitching at her sides, impatient to kill the person who had dared to poison Sasuke. "I received the highest scores under Ibiki; I know each point on the human body that can feel pain, and I know the limits of every ligament, every muscle, every bone."

Sasuke stared at her, angry that Sakura had to choose _right now_ to be the rational adult. "But the sharingan–"

"–is nothing compared to the horror I can inflict with my little finger," Sakura warned, finally at her wits' end. "If you step foot into the interrogation room, I swear to kami I will deactivate your bloodline limit!"

They stared at each other in silence for a few moments.

The black haired man spoke quietly. "It's possible to deactivate the sharingan?"

"Of course it's possible!" She fumed. "I invented this technique. It reroutes your chakra systems away from the eyes, and seals the bloodline limit into your genome. None of your children would have the sharingan unless you had me change their chakra networks."

"So it's reversible?"

"Of course! Why make a punishment that's irreparable?"

"Good."

"What–?"

Sasuke pulled her down and kissed her. She shoved backwards as soon as she realized what he was doing, staring in horror at the man on the hospital bed. "What the hell?"

He was smirking, god damn him. "I just wanted to make sure that when you got your revenge for that, you'd be able to heal me."

"You–you asshole! Aaugh! I hate your guts, you fucking– fucking Uchiha!" She stormed out of the room, all the while blushing a superior crimson.

Sasuke leaned back, careful not to pull the IV out of the vein in his right arm, and watched the clouds go by outside the window. A hint of a rare grin twitched at the corner of his mouth.

_It's going to be a good day._

...

"Next!" Sakura kneaded her temples, wishing the day would hurry up and end. "State your name and level of security clearance," she intoned.

"Sakura, it's Tsunade."

Green eyes opened wide and she hurried to stand for her Hokage. "Shishou! Sorry! I was–"

The Godaime waved a hand. "It's fine. I know what hospital duty is like. Come walk with me for a moment, would you?"

Sakura nodded and called a nurse to take over her post. "Is there something wrong, Tsunade–sama?"

"Just walk with me," the blonde woman said, hands clasped behind her back. "It's been a while since you've even said hello, Sakura."

"Hai! I've been very busy with our staff and–"

Tsunade chuckled, the smile melting years from her face. "Calm down, Sakura! I'm not here to punish you for neglecting your old teacher." Her expression grew serious once more. "But I do need your promise that you will be silent on the matter I am about to discuss with you. No one should know about this unless I say so." Golden eyes trained on Sakura. "Especially the members of your team."

"You have my word, Tsunade–sama."

...

Silence followed Sakura like a blanket as she returned home.

_Is Tsunade really considering..._

_Yes!_ cried Inner Sakura. _It's what Naruto's always wanted! _Her Inner held up a hand. _And remember, Sakura; he's not the only one that will benefit. You'll be made the head of the hospital officially! Never mind that you've been running this place for nearly a year..._

_But for her to..._

_Tsunade trusts him,_ she realized suddenly. _She knows that he will always strive to do what's right._

_Naruto... will be Hokage._

...

The Uchiha noticed the expression on her face as soon as she walked in on the fourth day of his stay at the hospital. "Sakura."

"Hm?"

That in itself was alarming enough. There had never before been a moment of Sasuke's life where Sakura was unconcerned with his every action and word. "What's wrong, Sakura?"

"Oh, nothing, I just..."

She stared at a spot on the cream colored walls, eyes unseeing.

"Just...?" he prompted, irritated and curious beside himself.

"Oh," she said, and smiled, finally seeming to wake up. "I'm going to become the head of the hospital."

Sasuke blinked once. Twice. _Well that was... unexpected._ "Is it such a horrible thing, then? To be promoted?"

"No, no... I was just imagining what I'll be like in twenty years. I wonder if I'll still be the head of the hospital then. I wonder if I'll still be _alive_ then."

The thought that Sakura might die on the battlefield, in an accident, from a disease, that she might vanish the way his family had – made him want to hug her tightly to him. He knew she might not appreciate the gesture, but he still wanted to be some sort of comfort. Slowly, not altogether sure how to do it, Sasuke reached out and took her hand. "I promise we'll be alive."

Sakura smiled weakly. "Yeah. Me too."

She tried to stand up, but he kept her hand in his. "Is this some sort of weird dominance thing you have, Sasuke? You really know how to make a girl feel special."

"What do you want me to do then?" he almost snarled, barely avoiding a blush. "Every time I try to talk to you, you run away."

For a moment Sakura chewed on her lower lip. "Well... usually you ask someone out before you decide you won't let them out of your sight."

Sasuke loosened his grip. "Hn."

"Wait, Sasuke... are you–?"

"Hai."

"You are?"

"Hn."

"But–"

"Be at home at seven o'clock."


	9. Chapter 8

Conviction: Chapter 8

by Rachel Poulson

––––––––––

At six-thirty she realized that she was being ridiculous. She'd spent no less than half an hour worrying over what she should wear and if it could possibly be good enough.

_Sasuke-kun!_

Hearing that sugar sweet voice in her head once more made Sakura almost physically ill, and she had to step away from the closet for a moment.

She had no idea how he would even get to her house; he had been under surveillance since the moment he stepped through the hospital doors. Knowing Sasuke, it would probably be illegal and result in a sharp reprimand from the Hokage for all involved.

Her lips twitched. _If_ Tsunade ever found out.

Finally abandoning her scant choices, Sakura went around the corner to Ino's empty apartment and raided the wardrobe. She spent a few minutes struggling into a jean skirt and then plucked a pale yellow shirt off a hanger. Ino had gold shoes. _Gold shoes._ Normally Sakura would have balked at such an intrusive color, but the little sparkly flats drew her like a moth to a flame.

Though not a very stylish person, she could see immediately that she looked good. But there was something... "Oh." She sat down at Ino's vanity and began to apply light amounts of make-up. A green clip pulled her hair backwards

_I don't feel like a rock-star. S_he grinned. _But I think I look like one._

...

His knuckles had barely hit her front door when she walked around the corner, looking mildly surprised to see him. "Hello, Sasuke."

"You're late."

She glanced at her watch. "You're early.

He walked down her porch steps and into the street. "Same thing."

Sakura laughed and hurried to catch up with him. "So where are we going?"

"To dinner."

She sighed. "I assumed that, but where?"

"..."

"You're not going to tell me?"

"Hn."

"But what kind of food is it?"

"..."

"...do you even know where we're going?

"Hn."

...

Dinner was nice. In fact, it was more than nice; it was probably the only time in Sakura's life when she'd gone to such a nice restaurant. But that hadn't really been on her mind much. For most of the evening, the only things on her mind had to do with Sasuke.

Number one: she was on a date with Sasuke.

Number two: Sasuke was holding her hand.

Number three: _she was on a date with Sasuke_.

Until about ten minutes after dinner, when she was still walking hand in hand with Sasuke, those occupied all of her mental capacity.

"...Sakura?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "Yes, Sasuke?"

"Are you alright?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you've been staring off into space for five minutes."

She blushed. "Ah, sorry, I was just... um..."

"Just what?"

She raised an eyebrow. "My god, is Sasuke showing an interest in something?"

He smirked. "That's not fair. I'm interested in you."

"That doesn't mean you show it." Though she pretended to examine her nails, her heart began to pound. "Honestly, sometimes I'm hard pressed to know if you loath me or love me."

And then he leaned over and kissed her, and her knees gave way, and he had to carry her to hospital because she was hyperventilating.

...

"Oi! Teme! What did you do to Sakura!"

"Shut up, dobe! I didn't do anything."

But Naruto continued as loudly as before.

"You're the only person who could make a medic need to be admitted to the hospital–"

"I said shut up!" There was a thud, and Naruto's exclamation from the hallway.

"I'll kill you, you bastard!"

"Just try it, dobe!"

Sakura sat in front of her teacher, rightly horrified; Tsunade checked some paperwork as her prized student slowly turned different shades of red in embarrassment.

After about ten minutes, during which Sakura's coloring corresponded with the level of noise coming from her teammates in the hall, the Hokage decided her student was mortified enough and looked up from her desk. "Well, Sakura?"

The words burst forth in a torrent. "Tsunade-sama, I want to apologize for–"

The older woman flapped a hand for silence. "Hai, I know, I know. Goodness knows you could use some fun now and then." She smiled. "I called you in here to ask how your date went."

Sakura, formerly a becoming shade of pink, went very pale. "What date?"

"So it was mortifying." Tsunade's already broad grin grew. "Was the whole night that bad, or just the part that ended up in the hospital?"

The pink-haired woman stared at her teacher, knowing there was no way she could lie to her. "Um, just the last part."

Tsunade burst into laughter that managed to drown out the fighting in the hallway and force Sakura into hitherto undiscovered shades of purple.

"Um, Tsunade-sama, I just want to apologize for knowingly allowing Sasuke out of the hospital. I shouldn't have agreed to it." She swallowed hard. "I will understand if you don't want me to run the hospital anymore."

Tsunade shook her head, red from laughing. "Oh please, Sakura. I'm not going to fire you because you stopped being a robot for a few hours. I _might_ have fired you if you'd turned him down. No one in their right mind could say no to that piece of hot ANBU."

Sakura thought of all the times she'd turned him down and gulped. She'd been _very_ close to losing her job over Sasuke.

"Alright, you can go. I just wanted a first-hand account of your misfortune." Tsunade returned to her paperwork, still chuckling over her student's folly.

...

It was awkward being with him now, especially since he was eyeing her like she might collapse at any time. "I'm telling you, I'm _fine,_" she said exasperatedly once more. "You don't need to walk me to my office."

"..."

Of course he didn't answer. Because he wasn't listening to her. Or he was, and enjoyed seeing her so frustrated.

She entered her pale blue office and sat down, waiting for him to leave so she could get some work done. But he simply entered, closed the door behind him, and sat down to watch her some more.

Sakura tried to keep her mind on the stack of papers in front of her, but her thoughts drifted to the conversation she'd just had with their nation's leader. _I could have lost my job if Tsunade wasn't so kind,_ she realized. _I shouldn't have done that._

Thank god Tsunade would never know about the events which had taken place in the third floor supply closet...

She blushed a brilliant shade of red, and Sasuke smirked at her. "Is your paperwork really that vulgar?"

"Um, no, not really." _Focus!_

"Hn."

She looked up at him and felt a shiver ripple over her skin. She was in her own office, so no one would disturb her. The door was closed, so no one could come in. And Sasuke was looking infuriatingly nonchalant as he reclined in her comfy guest chair.

_We can't do this right now._

Shoving those thoughts from her mind, she returned to the work piling up on her desk.

...

Despite her best intentions, she fell asleep several hours later. She woke up at around midnight with Sasuke's jacket draped around her shoulders.

He was sprawled over the couch in the corner of her office, watching through heavily lidded eyes.

"You should go home," she said, stretching her arms slowly. "It's really late."

He raised an eyebrow. "You want me to leave?"

"Well, I just meant–"

And then he was in front of her, faster than the eye could see, and her back was against the wall, and he had her in a tight hug. "Don't do that, Sakura."

"Don't do w-what?" Her voice was a squeak, feeling wide palms pulling her in close. She remembered the last time he'd been this close, months ago, when they were in the closet, and she almost...

"Don't ask me to leave." And then his lips brushed hers hesitantly.

_No,_ she thought firmly. _I've had enough of only being the recipient._

She slid her arms over his shoulders and pulled him into a kiss.


	10. Chapter 9

Conviction: Chapter 9

by Rachel Poulson

––––––––––

It was a strange thing to know, that she was kissing Sasuke. After all these years, Sakura's cup of good karma had obviously runneth over.

It was also different than she'd imagined. She could never have imagined the way her skin lit up at his touch, or the taste of his mouth, like smooth peppermint. She wanted to memorize this all, to save it for a time when he was out of reach.

Her back bumped against the cork board covering one wall of her office as she gasped for breath. She was aware of the sounds they were making, the groans each was struggling to suppress, as they familiarized themselves with each others' bodies. She knew just how dead she would be if the Hokage could see her now, and took some satisfaction in this stolen moment of intimacy.

She fumbled with the pin in her hair when Sasuke made it clear it was annoying him. His kisses lingered over her cheeks, neck, collarbone... She sighed and felt her fingertips curl in the wake of his attentions.

Sasuke himself was facing a dilemma: he loved kissing her on the lips, but the smell of her hair and her skin and her... well... _everything_, was just as tempting. He settled for getting as much in as he could on both fronts and appreciating the way her body was wrapping around his.

All he could think about was Sakura, and the things she did unknowingly that made him want to smirk. Buying tomatoes for her apartment because she knew he'd eat them if he came over; weeping whenever a single patient died, whether or not she'd been their doctor; healing the members of Team 7 after every brutal four–way sparring match, determined to let no bruise go unnoticed even while falling over from exhaustion.

His eyes were darker than usual as they trained on her face. "Sakura..." His breath tickled her ear. A gasp escaped her lips as he bit her lightly. "Sasuke!" she hissed. "We're in my office."

"Hn." He paused in his conquest and glanced upwards. "Maybe we should lock the door."

She dissolved into a fit of giggles, leaving herself wide open for the next kiss. She opened her mouth to tell him off, but there was a slight click and a heavy thud as the door flew open.

"SAKURA! Great news! Hinata and I are–" Naruto stopped, the grin slowly sliding off his face. "Um. Sorry. Am I interrupting?"

In response Sasuke swore under his breath and turned away from the furiously blushing Sakura. "What is it, dobe?"

But Naruto was still staring at their disheveled appearances, all other distractions nonexistent. His forehead scrunched in shock. "Teme, you're gonna have to explain this."

...

He was blushing. Not a lot, but Uchiha Sasuke was blushing as he looked away.

Sakura nudged him lightly in the ribs. "You could at least _look_ happy for him," she whispered.

He scowled, but there was no heart in it as his eyes roved Ichiraku's bar.

Naruto was engaged.

The first thing the jinchuuriki did when Sasuke had muttered an explanation was laugh at both of them until they were sure he'd die of apoplexy. Then he'd held out a pale envelope to Sakura and invited her to his wedding.

Because Sasuke's expression, thunderous since their interruption earlier, wasn't shaken by her pleading, Sakura decided to change tactics. "You're just mad because he got engaged before you," she teased. "If you're going to get all mopey and emo because your best friend is getting married, then I should go and find Kiba."

He turned dark eyes on her in a glare and reached into his pocket. "No," he said darkly. His questing hand withdrew a blue ballpoint pen, and he began to draw on her wrist, completely focused and most uncharacteristic of Sasuke. She giggled as the nub passed over veins and a slight scar. "I didn't know you aspired to be a tattoo artist, Sasuke."

He just shot a glare at her and finished. When he released her hand, she squinted to examine the tiny drawings.

Another daisy chain.

She smiled in response to his embarrassed expression and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Thank you, Sasuke."

When she turned back to the party, she couldn't help but feel that Sasuke looked smug. But it was okay. She liked smug better than sulky.

...

Now it was her cheeks' turn to burn.

She couldn't _believe_ she'd been roped into shopping with Hinata. It had been all right for the first few hours, finding a dress for the engagement party and some kimono selections for the clan ceremonies, but now Sakura was faced with a task both foreign and frightening.

She had to introduce Hinata to the world of lingerie.

Up until now, the Hyuuga heiress had survived on what the matrons of her clan had chosen for her, and what she bought in regular clothing shops. But, she confessed to Sakura, she didn't know what to wear for her wedding night.

So Sakura was forced to take her deep into Konoha's red light district, where Hinata spent an hour and a half just trying on bras.

Then came Sakura's turn. She was shocked that Hinata was buying her clothes, but apparently it was tradition. The bride's clan paid for everything in the wedding, including what was worn by the groom's immediate family. Hinata assured her that both she and Sasuke counted as siblings.

And the fittings began again.

After six hours of shopping and what seemed like an eternity of changing clothes, Hinata dropped her at home and went to visit Naruto.

Sakura trudged inside lugging three huge bags of lingerie. Apparently the other dresses and clothing needed to be pressed and packed for the wedding, but this stuff could survive. She flipped on her living room light and pulled the bags inside, locking the door behind her.

"Shopping," came a flat voice.

Sasuke was sitting on her couch, halfway through one of her medical textbooks. "You were out shopping." He narrowed his eyes at the bags, which she hastily tried to hide from view. "What did you buy?"

"Oh, um, just some stuff for Naruto's wedding. Hinata took me and made me buy everything that fit."

He raised an eyebrow. "Will I get to see any of it?"

She shrugged as though unconcerned. "It depends."

"On?"

"If you really want to wait for me to change into them."

He smirked and crossed the room to reach her. By way of answer he tugged the bags out of her grip and tossed them on the floor.

She smiled into his kiss. "Impatient, are we?"

He breathed in her heady scent and groaned. Knowing that she needed this as desperately as he did, she decided to stop antagonizing him and get his shirt off.

...

If she thought kissing him was strange, that was nothing compared to living with him. They never actively moved in together, it just sort of happened. If Sasuke wanted to return to the Uchiha Compound, they ate dinner and slept in his house. If Sakura felt homesick and needed to water her plants, she dragged him back to her apartment.

The arrangement went unnoticed for nearly a week before Naruto caught on. Then he decided to sit down and have a serious talk with Sasuke, man to man.

He took the opportunity to corner him after an early morning sparring match in one of the Konoha training fields. Sasuke, recognizing the look in his friend's eyes, leaned against a tree as Naruto paced before him.

"If you ever hurt her," the jinchuuriki said in a low voice, "I will kill you. If you ever leave her, I will kill you. If you ever make her cry, I will kill you."

Sasuke bore this lecture mutely until Naruto had to pause and regain his breath. "Dobe, I don't think your possessiveness of her will be a factor in our relationship."

Naruto looked indignant. "Why the hell not?"

"Three reasons. One, I love her. Two, if I ever hurt her she will murder me and resurrect me for the pleasure of killing me a second time. Three, she _is not yours._"

There was a tense moment between the two men before Naruto relaxed. "Good answers, teme. I won't interfere. But she is my teammate too, and I will raise hell if she sheds a single tear over you."

Sasuke smirked. "What, like you did?"

A blush enveloped Naruto's face. "I didn't cry over you!"

"I seem to remember some stories from Sakura and Ino about you crying and sobbing because I left–"

"Teme, I swear to kami I'll castrate you–"

"–just don't let your crush on me get in the way of our missions, okay dobe?"

Naruto tackled his best friend in the middle of the clearing, and their scuffle was only broken when Sakura punched Sai through a tree a few hundred meters away.

They helped one another up in silence and watched Sakura spar with Sai. Some of the Konoha nin called her the Angel of Death, pink hair floating around her face in battle, eyes and skin glowing with the force of her chakra.

Naruto put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Let's go grab some ramen."

And after all this time, eating ramen almost daily for a year and a half, Sasuke found to his surprise that he didn't hate the greasy food.


	11. Chapter 10

Conviction: Chapter 10

by Rachel Poulson

––––––––––

She waited silently as Tsunade read over the report.

"Permission granted." She dipped a brush in paint and signed her name. "You can interrogate the lab assistants next week, but come to me before moving on to torture." She handed over the packet of forms, and Sakura left, mind elsewhere.

A part of her was screaming for blood, but another part, the product of a double shift and very little sleep, was telling her that whoever she singled out would most likely be tortured and imprisoned, something she didn't want on her conscience if the person turned out to be innocent. She sighed and decided to stop downstairs for some tea. A glance through an open window told her that it was close to dawn; she decided to head to Sasuke's, both to tell him the news and to get some sleep.

"Here's your tea, Haruno-san. Headed home?" The speaker was a kind blonde chunin who worked at reception and occasionally made the tea.

Sakura took the cup gratefully. "Thank you, Ikuto-san. No, I'm going to my boyfriend's."

"You mean Uchiha Sasuke's house?" Ikuto's face was eager; she was obviously a fan of his.

Sakura smiled wanly. "My apartment's pretty far from here. How did you know I was dating him?"

"Oh, everyone knows," the woman gushed. "You two are so adorable!" She beamed at Sakura. "Have a nice day, Haruno-san!"

As Sakura walked out the hospital doors, she wondered wryly if people would line up and pay for pictures with Sasuke.

...

She opened the gate to the Uchiha Compound and shivered; she still didn't like being here alone. It reminded her of an old battlefield, steeped in death.

Inside Sasuke's house she dropped her bag on the floor and went to find Sasuke, who had come home from a mission the night before. As she passed through the kitchen, she noticed a pitcher of lemonade sitting next to the fridge; a knife and a lemon peel sat next to it, which was unlike the neat-freak Uchiha.

_He must have been tired when he got home,_ she thought, reaching out her hand–

–and suddenly Sasuke was there, a serious expression marring his features as he grabbed her wrist. "Don't touch it."

Shocked, she drew backwards slowly. "It's _just_ lemonade, Sasuke. It's not as if–" Looking at him again, she finally registered the look on his face. "You think it's poison?"

He shook his head. "Acid."

Sakura shuddered, knowing what it could have done to her body. "We need to get this covered and contained, or it could get into the air, water and soil." Biting her thumb, she drew a smeared circle of blood around the pitcher and sealed it with a chakra charge. "It can't leave this barrier now. We need to get Tsunade," she ordered, sounding like the medic she was. "This is attempted homicide."

Carefully, she picked up the lemon. "It was like this when you got home?"

"Hn. I didn't touch it because I knew you hadn't been here this week."

She raised an eyebrow. "How did you know that? You've been in Ame."

He shrugged. "The compound has an identity seal on its perimeter. I wrote your name into the seal and told it to notify me if you passed through." He looked disgruntled. "I wanted to know if I should expect you to be here when I got home."

Sakura considered this as she examined the lemon. "Could you use it to track an intruder?"

Sasuke saw what she meant. "Hn." _I don't know how._

"We'll ask Tsunade about it; she can give us access to the library to research it."

"Hn." _When I find out who tried to poison you, I'm going to kill them. Painfully._

She smiled and kissed him gently. "You're sweet."

Not taking her eyes from his face, she dropped the lemon rind into the acid and watched the mixture change colors.

"I guess the citrus was the catalyst." Her eyes turned serious. "We need to get Tsunade."

...

The Hokage listened patiently as the investigator gave his report and then turned to the Sakura and Sasuke, who sat stiffly to her right. "Sakura. I'm assigning you an ANBU bodyguard, and no, Sasuke, it cannot be you. It must be someone impartial and unrelated to the case." She saw their reproachful stares and added, "I need both of you to appear as if nothing is wrong. The guard I'm assigning was scheduled to begin a project with Sakura in the next few months. I'm moving up that deadline, so it won't be suspicious if they're seen together."

Her hazel gaze cut to the investigator, an ANBU who wore the white armband of the detective branch of the Konoha police squadron. "Is he outside?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Send him in, and then you are dismissed."

"Right away, Hokage-sama." He saluted and walked out.

Tsunade turned to the couple once more. "I trust your guard implicitly, and he will be acting as a nonbiased third party in the event of a trial." She gestured beckoningly towards the door, and in walked...

... Shikamaru?

He approached the desk in his habitual slouch, dark eyes trained on Sasuke and Sakura. He saluted smartly.

"Report," ordered the Hokage.

He nodded. "I've been briefed already, Tsunade-sama. It's troublesome, but we can't have someone poisoning our medic specialists." He cracked a grin. "Or their boyfriends."

Sasuke gritted his teeth but said nothing; the genius's lax manner and occasionally barbed comments grated on his nerves.

Eyeing him shrewdly, Tsunade handed Shikamaru a sheaf of papers. "This is the investigator's report. You and Sakura should leave now; Sasuke will follow in a few minutes." Sakura stood, and the pair saluted before walking out into the hallway.

As the door closed, Tsunade rose and looked out the window, hands clasped behind her back. There she stayed for some time without speaking, until she suddenly glanced back at him. "Uchiha. I'm assigning you an S-Rank mission. It may take several months."

He stared at her mutely for a moment, too shocked to respond. "Hokage-sama, with all due respect–"

"Sakura is not a child," the blonde woman said bluntly. "And neither are you, so you shouldn't act like it. I am Hokage, and you will be quiet and _listen_."

Sasuke, who had half-risen, slowly settled again.

Tsunade raised a finger. "First of all, the mission I am sending you on is extremely important, and I had planned to give it to you even before this whole mess." She sighed, massaging her temple with her free hand. "Secondly, you live in the old Uchiha Compound, which was notoriously hard to patrol even when the entire clan lived there. If you are home she wil spend time there, it will be more difficult to find whoever is doing this."

Her ring finger rose. "Third of all, if the target is in fact you, we will know immediately, and the investigator's focus and any possible motives will change. Fourthly, you are a distraction to Sakura, and she becomes too relaxed around you. She may miss something she might otherwise not have, and you could both die."

Tsunade's palm was now fully extended. "Fifthly, your main reasoning for staying will be to support Sakura. But it will do her more harm than good in the long run if she has to depend on you to get through this. And finally, your jealousy will no doubt hinder the mission and put Sakura in further danger."

Sasuke, who had listened indignantly so far, raised his eyebrows at that. "Jealousy?"

The woman smiled knowingly. "Nara Shikamaru will be sharing a room with Sakura and tailing her 24/7 until we find the perpetrator. I doubt even _your_ self control can handle that. Not to mention the awkwardness if he should interrupt something... private."

Sasuke's ears wanted to burn; he knew she was right, and that just made it all the worse. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers together, deep in thought. "I do not agree with all of your reasoning, Hokage-sama, but logically I understand it."

She nodded approvingly as he continued. "I do have something to add. I would like for Sakura to have permission to go through the archives on chakra recognition seals. We think some of the old Uchiha seals might help catch whoever is doing this."

"Hm..." Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "It's an interesting idea. If she succeeds I may commission her for more of them. They would be invaluable to the police."

Sasuke felt his blood run cold, but he nodded jerkily. "Tsunade-sama, if I may..."

"Spit it out," she ordered, crossing her arms over her chest.

His dark eyes met hers. "Please be careful. We don't want another clan to adopt the Uchiha paranoia and isolation."

Tsunade's face softened. "Agreed. I will consult both you and Sakura before any action is taken." She finally sat down again. "Now go and pack. The team leaves tomorrow, before dawn."

Sasuke stood, saluted, and his form blurred as he flickered through the window. He had a lot on his mind, including wondering how he was going to tell Sakura that he was leaving.

_Sakura's going to kill me,_ he thought as he sped over the rooftops. _If I had a will, I would write Tsunade out of it._


	12. Chapter 11

Conviction: Chapter 11

by Rachel Poulson

––––––––––

When he told Sakura, she reacted completely differently than he'd expected. Sasuke had thought that she would scream with rage, maybe go argue with Tsunade, and then very grudgingly accept the decision.

Instead, she broke the coffee cup she was holding when he told her, but that was it. She stayed silent for a few minutes, staring at nothing, until he'd warily asked if she was okay. And then she'd sighed, and raked a hand through her hair. "I understand," she said simply, and those two words made him worry more than if she'd tried to assassinate Tsunade.

…

That night, their last night before Shikamaru officially became Sakura's bodyguard, their last night before Sasuke's mission, did not exactly go as planned.

The first half was wonderful, lots of passionate kissing and other physically strenuous activities, which ended at around midnight at Sasuke's house. Sakura rolled onto her side, trying to get her breath back and healing the scratches she'd made on Sasuke's back. "Roll over a little, would you?" she murmured, and he complied as she finished and let the green glow fade from around her hands. She rubbed his shoulders soothingly for a few minutes.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, and she let him turn over to look at her. "I won't be able to contact you at all during the mission."

She gave him a quizzical smile. "It's not your fault you got this mission."

He sighed, letting his head flop onto the pillow. "If I hadn't become nukenin, I'm sure that Tsunade would have let me stay with you now. She doesn't trust me at all."

Sakura frowned slightly. "You can't be sure of that. Besides, we'll see each other in a few months, maybe less." She sat up and put a palm on his chest. "So you better do a really quick job so I can see you again."

Sasuke groaned and turned over. "Great, just what I need. Not only will I be focusing on the mission, I'll be looking forward to coming home."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"It's not bad, exactly. It's just like Tsunade said; we have that effect on each other. We're too comfortable. We make mistakes. No offense, Sakura, but you can be distracting as hell." He turned away from her and pulled the sheets up. "C'mon, let's go to sleep."

He missed the steely glint in her green eyes. "I'm a distraction? One battle hardened ANBU captain who survived as nukenin can't keep his thoughts off sex, and it's my fault?"

"Aw, come on Sakura," he protested, facing her again, "That's not what I meant. It's just that when we're around each other we're not as vigilant. And we can't afford to be sloppy with someone trying to assassinate you, and with me on a mission."

Sakura's face had turned white as he spoke. "Then maybe we should stop this, if it's such a problem and a danger to us. Maybe then we can focus on the tasks at hand." Her fists, clenched beneath the covers, were shaking slightly.

He stared up at her mutely for a moment, dark eyes taking in her complicated expression. "Is that what you want?"

She threw up her hands in frustration. "I don't know! I'm never really sure what you're thinking – unless you're thinking about sex, and then everyone in _Konoha_ knows what you're thinking – and I'm always working crazy hours at the hospital, and you're on missions, and we're never really completely happy because there's always some fucking complication-" At some point she had started crying, and she wiped at the messy tears with her forearm. "I'm just tired," she whispered. "I'm tired of never being sure if we're enough to be with each other." She shoved her face in her hands to hide the blotchy redness that came with the tears.

Sasuke sat up on his side of the bed, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Sakura, come on-" He tried to hug her, but she pushed his hand aside and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

She stood and proceeded in a frantic search for her clothing, which took several minutes and was carried out in silence. Finally she tightened the belt on her uniform and looked up at him. "I'm going home," she said thickly, her nose stuffed and eyes red-rimmed. "Come say hi when you get back."

His expression was unreadable, but his jaw was set, and he didn't say anything as she walked out his front door.

…

_What the hell went wrong?_ he asked himself as he caught up with his ANBU squad at the rooftop of a little bakery in Konoha's slums; it was their meeting place.

_I'll have to fix this,_ he thought grimly. _I owe it to her, to us._

He watched the false sunrise spreading fingers of glowing light across the world and gave the signal for them to move out.

They disappeared into the breeze.

…

Sakura cried very little the next day, though she did waver when she found one of Sasuke's vests in her laundry. In the end she tossed it aside and continued as if nothing had happened. She needed time to heal.

Nara Shikamaru showed up at around breakfast time, clutching a bag of steaming baked goods, courtesy of his mother. "She wouldn't let me leave without them," he explained embarrassedly as they sat down to eat. "Honestly, she would have shoved them in my pockets if I hadn't agreed to carry them."

She smiled a little and tried to laugh, but it sounded fake to her ears, and she was quiet for the rest of the meal. They cleaned up their dishes, changed into work clothes, and headed towards the hospital.

…

Truth be told, Shikamaru, or Shika as he insisted she call him, wasn't bad company. He had a very dry sense of humor that she found refreshing, and he could quote parts of the textbook she couldn't even remember reading.

During a quick break in their work, he spoke aloud a passage for her that he said had particularly struck him, and they discussed it for nearly half an hour. Then he quoted the last few lines: "There is no substitute for the human spirit. Give a patient as much medication as you like, but if they have no will to get better, they will remain ill. A doctor must never forget that their duty is firstly and foremost to the patient."

Sakura nodded intently; she'd been sorting some standard documents as she listened to Shikamaru. "That's very true, and I've had trouble getting some my coworkers to understand that. What textbook was this from again?"

He cracked a grin. "It was from your essay seven years ago on the psychological effects of rape and torture in shinobi and civilians. It was very well written, although it must have been troublesome to dig up all the statistics for your hypothesis."

She blushed slightly and nodded. "It was. I worked on it for months before submitting it to Tsunade; I think she liked it. By the way, where did you find it?"

"Tsunade gave it to me," he explained as he helped her finish the filing. "It was in an anthology entitled Essential Medical Essays Volume 4, edited by a doctor in Suna. It was published last year. You should have gotten some sort of letter in the mail about it."

Sakura shrugged and pulled her lab coat back on. "I probably thought it was junk mail and threw it out. Come on; the cultures should have progressed enough for us to get a decent sample on that poison by now."


End file.
